RPI deals may be rare but do happen. Otherwise everyone would get poorer as time went by which wouldn't be sustainable.
Believe tube drivers just turned down a deal which would give them 0.25 % ABOVE RPI for next 4 years. Think they'd have to take a hit in the first year and so they don't like it but I'd swap it for our deal in a heartbeat. And deal included concessions from the company not the staff.
A business involving public transport the disruption of which would cause chaos, especially with the Olympics next year. Why does that sound familiar?